Written by Spring 2025 AFA Intern/TAP Extern Summer Xiang
In a world increasingly dominated by pixels, creativity is often compressed into the dimensions of a phone screen. Physical spaces for artistic expression in cities become a commodity; but are more important than ever. As an intern with Arts For All, I’ve had the privilege of watching young children in New York City engage with art – painting, paper folding, and dancing freely in a real space. These moments remind me of the necessity of places where art can be created, and expression isn’t filtered through a screen but exists in the tangible world.
Sociologists have a term for these kinds of spaces: third spaces – places that are neither home (first space) nor work or school (second space), but communal areas where people can gather, linger, and explore ideas free of expectation to spend money or produce something of economic value. Parks, libraries, and community centers are classic examples, offering something that modern city life doesn’t always prioritize: a place to just be.
Arts classes offer more than just creative freedom; they introduce children to the rhythms of physical creation – preparing materials, organizing tools, layering textures, and cleaning up afterward. These routines, reminiscent of adult studios for ceramic, painting, or tattooing help solidify a connection with creative planning and material touch. The act of setting up and winding down mirrors rituals that reinforce the idea: art is a process as much as an outcome.
In these classrooms, I sit with primary school kids and wonder what kind of world they will grow into, if they will maintain those open hearts and continue to speak without fear or hesitation. As they grow older and build layers of experience – heartbreaks, personal beliefs, and realizations about their place in the world- how their artistic voices will start shaping?
I wonder how art will seep back in moments of loneliness, despair, and bliss; as a thread connecting them to their individuality or a point of processing and healing. Will they return to third spaces to write poetry in a cafe, to sketch in a park, to find solace in a library, or a new kind of space not yet established yet? The beauty of art is that it always finds a way back no matter how complicated life gets. And this is why free artistic spaces and proper art programming matters. Because in a city where a square foot is a price tag, places where creativity can flourish without expectation are sacred. They are a refuge for young minds learning to express themselves and a reminder for all of us that art is not an afterthought, it is a fundamental part of being human.
